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CB1 Archive
Cooky battle Part 1 The USAF vessel Daedalus hung motionless in the vacume of space. At half a light year out, the dim point of light of the nearby star was nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding backdrop of space. Assuming that is the right star, John Sheppard thought to himself as he stared out the main viewport of Daedalus's bridge. Kinda hard to tell for sure. "Observer one reports on station sir," the Daedalus's com officer called out. "Observer two, thirty seconds out. No sign of the target." "Understood," Colonel Steven Caldwel, the Daedalus's comander replied. An imposing man even seated, his calm tone belayed the coming battle. His left hand activated the comunication control on his chair. "All hand's, this is Caldwel. Observers one and two are in final positions, estimated eta of target is two minutes." Deactivating the com, he turned to the ops officer seated next to him. "Sound General Quarters." As the muted alarms rang throught the bridge, John pulled his gaze away from the blackness of space and moved to stand behind the helmsman. He glanced at the blond woman leaning over the helmsman's shoulder. "Are you sure the Wraith can't detect us out here?" he asked. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter glanced up from the displays for a moment to look at him. "We're over half a light year from the target planet. Even if their sensors pick us up, they shouldn't see us as an immediate threat." "What about when we jump into hyperspace?" This question came from the man standing over Colonel Caldwel's right shoulder. At fifty-three years old, two hundred sixty pounds and not a hair on his head, Alex Tindale looked every bit the general his uniform identified him as. "We'll only be in hyperspace for about three seconds, they won't have time to react before we hit them sir," Carter replied, once again leaning over the helmsman's shoulder, doublechecking the hyperspace calculations. "And this new weapon we're testing?" John asked. He still didn't know what was so special about it. "It is based on the bunker buster concept," General Tindale offered. "It is designed to be fired at close range, penetrate the target and detonate several seconds later. That should give us enough time to get clear of the blast radius. Colonel Carter helped develope it while under my command at Area 51." "It is meant to be fired from a fighter like the new F-307 bomber that is under developement," Carter added. "We had to modify two of Daedalus's missile silo's to be able to fire them." "Why aren't we using one of these F-307's to fire them?" "There are only two prototypes operational at the moment, and both are still undergoing flight trials," Tindale said. "Plus, if the delayed fuse malfunctions, they wouldn't have shields to protect themselves from the blast radius like Daedalus does." "Shields are nice--" "Contact reported!" the com officer interupted. "One Wraith Hive ship. It's moving into obit over the target planet." "Any sign they've detected us, or our observation craft?" Caldwel asked. "Not yet sir." "Any Dart activiy detected?" John asked, moving to a station were he could see the sensor feeds from the two cloaked observation craft. "None yet." "This is just a hyperspace waypoint. The planet itself is uninhabited, so hopefully they won't launch any fighters." Caldwel leaned forward in his chair. "Is the data from the observers sufficient enough to plot a jump?" "Yes sir," Carter replied. "It will take about a minute to perform the calculations for a jump this precise." "Missile status?" Tindale asked, turing to the weapons officer. "Penetrator missiles armed and ready. We set them with a ten second delay on the main fuse." "Isn't that a bit short?" John asked, taking his eyes off the sensor feed. "Ten seconds is more than enough time to get clear of the blast radius," Tindale said. "And if the fuses activate prematurelly, our shields will be able to protect the ship." "Jump calculations complete, Colonel." "Very well," Caldwel said. "All hands, stand by for combat. At your count, Colonel Carter." "Yes sir. Jump in five...four...three...two...one...mark." The familiar rumble ran through the ship as Daedalus's hyperdrive activated and her sublight engines pulsed, pushing the ship into hyperspace. The blackness of space was quickly replaced with the twisting blue tunnel of hyperspace. Carter called out, "Reversion in two...one...mark." With a flash of light, Daedalus reverted to normal space, this time with a large planet dead ahead and a Wraith Hive ship barely a kilometer directly overhead. "Launch Penetrator missiles," Caldwel said instantly. "All rail gun positions, fire at will." From around the ship, rail gun implacements opened up on the Hive Ship. Small explosiones blossomed from the hull of the wraith vessel. A moment later, two plumes of smoke signalled the launch of the missiles from the bow of the Earth ship. Both missiles immediatelly turned, heading in opposite directions. Another moment later, they changed corse again, heading strait up into the hull of the hive ship. They impacted with little apparent effect. No explosions blossomed, only minimal debre fell away form the points of impact. "Penetrator missiles sucessfully impacted," the weapons officer hesitated a moment as the wraith ship began returning fire. "Primary detonation in ten seconds." "Full military thrust, get us clear," Caldwel ordered, getting up from his chair. "Bring up the aft view on the primary monitor. Any dart activity?" "None yet sir, energy signatures from within the ship suggest they may be preparing to launch." "Looks like we caught them by suprise," Tindale said as he joined the three Colonels at the large screen to the side of the main viewport. Just then, two small explosions eminated form the impact points. Sheppard frowned. "Is that it?" he asked. "They don't pack much of a punch." Carter smiled at him. "Just wait. Main detonation in three...two...one." Right on schedule, two massive explosions ripped into the hive ship's belly. The nuclear blast quickly caused the view from Daedalus's aft visual sensors to white out. A second later, the shock wave washed over the ship, shaking it. "Report," Caldwel called to his sensor officer. "Sensors show heavy damage to the Hive ship. Multiple secondary explosions throught the ship." Just as he answered, the aft view came back up on the screen. What remained of the underside of the hive ship was twisted and blackened. Small explosions could be seen ripping holes throught the ship. A moment later, a massive explosion centered in the dart bay blew large chuncks of hull away from the stricken ship. A second, slightly smaller explosion followed on the oposite side of the ship. "Split signals. Those last two blasts ripped the hive ship in half." John could see the two halves begining to separate on the screen. Smaller explossions continued throught the ship, breaking it up further. "Nice work, General." "Colonel Carter deserves the credit, Penetrator was her brain child." Caldwel turned away from the screen and resumed his seat. "Helm, bring us around. Begin mop up opperations." John looked out the main viewport as Daedalus began a banking turn to port. Just as the shattered remains of the hive ship came into view, another ship decloaked in flanking position off Daedalus's starboad bow. The small oval shaped craft had a pointed top and four drive nossels in the rear, one of two Al'kesh bombers that had Daedalus had ferried to Pegasus for the operation. "Colonel," the sensor officer spoke up. "I'm picking up some movement . Looks like six, maybe seven darts made it out of the hive before the fighter bays exploded." Caldwel's head snapped up from the helm display he'd been watching. "Signal the ground team, tell them to dial the gate imediatelly.. Have Observer Two go planetside and cover them, I don't want any darts to get through. Launch a flight of 302's, have them coordinate with Observer One. Clear my sky as soon as possible." "Yes, sir," the flight officer responded. "Flight launching now. Observer One reports engagement with enemy fighters." Weapons fire could now be seen lancing out from the belly turret of the Al'kesh toward an unseen target. Two explosions heralded the arival of the enemy fighters as the Al'kesh began maneuvering to avoid incoming fire. "Two darts destroyed sir. Minimal damage to Observer One." The head to head ended as the five remaining darts roared past the larger Al'kesh, right into the incoming missile fire from four F-302's. Five quick explosions later and the battle was over. "Recall the fighters," Caldwel ordered. "Have Observer two pick up our ground team as soon as they come through the stargate. Stand down from general quarters."